It was sunny and with temperatures in the low fifties by late morning, I knew I’d be taking half a day off…and I did.
I headed home knowing that I had to do some work on the cabinets before riding and so laid out five doors, sanded them and applied a first coat of urethane. I knew Kathy was home since I’d passed her place and seen her car on my drive in and sent her a text asking about riding. She ignored this and a phone call and so I walked over with Dakota to confront her. I found her on a ladder working on her cabinets.
“I’m so disgusted. My bathroom door won’t close correctly and I’ve had those hinges off and tried different things several times,” she said.
I put the ride on hold and went at the door. Thirty minutes later it was marginally better and she was caving into my requests to ride. “It’ll all be here when you get back and it’s 58 degrees in February. We have to go!” I said.
Her road bike was out of commission so she would have to ride her heavier, trail bike as a result.
“You’ve got road tires on and you’re in much better shape. You’re going to kill me,”
she said.
“Well…maybe…but that’s no reason not to ride,” I reasoned.
We suited up and after making an adjustment to my seat height, were ready to go. I described the course I was taking, which included two major climbs.
“I haven’t ridden since last October,” she reminded me.
“We’ll take it slow, but you’re a beast and you’ve got great climbing gears on that bike,” I said.
I was a little worried though. I didn’t want to discourage her, though she really is tough and pushes herself through the pain. We reached the bottom of Everett Road hill and with no complaints or whining, she began to climb.
Frankly, I was a little worried myself after having climbed hard the day before. I’d done a hard two hours and allowed for little recovery for a guy who really was out of shape, too. Still, I shifted to a harder gear and began the push.
She stayed right with me to the halfway point, but the conditioning and heavier bike began to tell and she fell behind…but never stopped pedaling. When she finally reached the gate blocking the road at the top of the steepest section, she was breathing heavily and not looking too happy.
“Are we having fun?” I asked.
She raised her middle finger. Then she high-fived me.
“You’re trying to kill me!”
I wasn’t, but I could see why she might think so. We continued on Everett Road before turning north on Cleveland-Massillon for the ride to SR 303. She liked the wide shoulders, but not what I was telling her about the remainder of the ride. It was approaching 5 p.m. and that meant heavier traffic on 303.
“There’s one big hill and on that hill – no shoulder,” I warned as we rode east on 303, as if there was some alternative we could take. There wasn’t and she knew it.
Cars were careful about passing us and we separated again as the climbing was beginning to tell. Again though, she did it without stopping and made the peak with an accomplished smile.
The remainder of the ride was pleasant. A wide, smooth shoulder took us back to Major Road in Peninsula, a sparsely traveled, country road that descended back into the valley. In all, we were out for about ninety minutes.
“I actually feel pretty good,” she admitted once home. I was very impressed. I don’t think I could have handled that course after a five-month layoff quite so well. “You’re a good riding buddy and I’m glad you moved here.”
Day one as Kathy’s hill trainer complete without regrets. And I’m feeling stronger with every ride.
Bike duration: One hour and 30 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm.
Calories Burned: 1,125.
Bonus: 21,000 steps.
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